Chicken & Avocado Soup

I made this recipe yesterday for dinner, and it turned out great! It was really quick and easy to make with simple and delicious ingredients. The recipe says to shred the chicken but I ended up just dicing up small pieces after I boiled the chicken in the broth and it ended up shredding a bit anyways. Also, the recipe says it makes 4 servings but since it's so low in calories and it was our dinner, we basically made 2 servings out of it and shared with Isaac. I used low-sodium fat-free chicken broth and after I boiled the chicken in it, I needed to add a bit more since some had evaporated. Manuel said it had a nice salsa-y taste to it and also commented that you could really taste all the different flavors individually. I think this soup could be really great served cooled in the summertime. It's yummy so give it a try!

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/02/chicken-and-avocado-soup.html

Dinner Last Night: Chicken Vindaloo

Watched this on Rachael Ray yesterday and thought it looked yummy and it's overall, a fairly healthy meal. We enjoyed it, although I'm not sure if this is anything I'd make often. It was my first time attempting anything Indian, and I'm so not used to those kinds of flavors! It turned out well though, so if you're looking for something interesting and different, give it a try! Here's the link to the recipe:

http://rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=4013

Spring Break & Whole Wheat Bread

Well, Spring Break flew by faster than expected which by now, is to be expected. Time just gets away from me so easily these days. Isaac is now 15 months old, and I still can't believe how fast my little guy is growing up. Manuel was such a big help to me this week, especially all the time he spent taking care of Isaac while I ran errands, went to appointments, and caught up on some shopping, all of which I have been needing to do by myself for some time. And yet somehow, still not everything I had set out to do actually got done. So is life! We got our gym passes this week for the Holladay Fitness and Rec Center which is conveniently right down the street from our place. I am really excited to start working out again and getting back into shape. Tuesday I went and accompanied one of the youth in our ward who was competing in a regional competition for his trumpet solo. He did well and is now on to the state competition which I will also be accompanying him for next month in Highland. Thursday was spent at the Family Fun Center in Sandy where Isaac had a blast with his cousins. My sister and I met up there, where she had a coupon in which we paid the age of the child, meaning we only paid $1 for Isaac to play all day. We ended up staying for about 4 hours and I have never seen Isaac have so much fun! I even put him in some roller skates which was a funny sight to see. I'll have to post pictures soon. Friday I got my hair cut, which was well overdue. A simple trim with some long layers added in and a final thinning out was all I needed. The rest of the days were filled with minor chores and repairs around the house. Overall, it was a fairly productive week yet in the end, I still wish there could have been some more time to spend with Manuel before he went back to school.

And now for the yummy bread recipe. This is a whole wheat bread recipe I got at an Enrichment Night activity in my parents' ward before I went off to school. It's a home storage recipe so it makes 4 loaves, but I may try cutting it in half the next time since I don't have the freezer space for 4 loaves! I made this on Sunday for the girls I visit teach, and even though it was my first time making a yeast bread on my own, it turned out really well! I also love how healthy the recipe is. Instead of using sugar to sweeten it, it calls for honey. And instead of butter, canola oil. It is such an easy recipe and has very little prep and cooking time. I decided that I am going to be making this bread instead of buying bread from now on. It's healthy and was so easy to put together in my KitchenAid mixer with the bread kneading attachment.

Easy 4-step Whole Wheat Bread

(I) In a bowl, mix:
6 cups hot water
1/2 cup oil - Canola is best (measure first)
1/2 cup honey (use the same measuring cup)

*Measuring the oil first and then the honey makes it easier to get all the honey out of the measuring cup.

Add together:
2 Tbsp. salt
2 Tbsp. dough enhancer (keep in the freezer)
3 Tbsp. yeast (keep in the freezer)

Mix a little at a time:
12-15 cups whole wheat flour

*Add only enough flour until the dough comes away from the side of the bowl when mixing.

(II) Mix on medium speed:
Set timer for 10 minutes (kneading the bread.) While dough is kneading:
1) Prepare the 4 loaf pans (spray with oil, non-stick spray, etc.).
2) Clean and oil down the cutting board or counter top.
3) Grease hands and knife.

(III) Prepare dough:
1) Take dough out of mixing bowl and place on well-oiled board.
2) With hands, roll out dough into a square. Cut dough into 4 equal pieces with an oiled knife.
3) Take each smaller piece, and pat out any bubbles. Form into a square.
4) Roll up into a long roll, and fold 3 times. Squeeze seams together, and place in the oiled pans.

(IV) Raising and cooking the bread:
1) Heat oven to 150 degrees, then turn the oven off. (The oven should not be warmer than 160 degrees.)
2) Place pans in oven to rise for 30 minutes. (Bread should raise barely past rim of pan.)
3) Set oven to 350 degrees and set the timer for 28-32 minutes. (Make sure bread crust is not too brown.)
4) Take out of pans and cover with towel. Let cool on rack for 1 hour before slicing.

Enjoy the recipe, it's delicious! Love to all our friends and family!

Healthier Eating & The Great World of Food Blogging

As we started off the new year, it was a goal of mine to eat healthier to lose some weight. Many of you are aware of my love for cooking and baking which can make this quite difficult! I decided that along with that goal, I was going to make a real effort to start cooking healthier meals for my entire family, especially now that Isaac is eating more and more everyday foods along with us. With the challenges our country now faces with rising numbers of obesity, especially among children, I want to make sure that what I feed my children is wholesome and healthy. I want my children to have a love for food but also a good, healthy relationship with the kinds of things they put in their bodies. Now don't get me wrong, I don't consider myself a crazy health nut by any means nor do I intend on being one of those moms who deprives their children of every kind of sweet treat or processed snack all of the time, but I want to encourage my family to make smarter decisions when it comes to food and to have healthy options at hand. So, with my recent culinary adventures, here are some of the changes I have made to my typical weeknight meals:

1. Using leaner cuts of meat
2. Using reduced-fat cheese and other low-fat or non-fat dairy products
3. Incorporating more variety of fruits and veggies
4. Using olive oil or a canola oil spray to save on unhealthy fats and extra calories
5. Experimenting with spices and other natural flavorings to make meals more interesting
6. Watching more carefully the food labels and making sure not to buy products containing high fructose corn syrup, additives or preservatives
7. Buying canned fruits that are stored in their own natural juices rather than heavy syrups
8. Buying canned vegetables that are labeled "no salt added" to better control the amount of sodium in our meals
9. Using and eating whole wheat pastas, breads, and grains that are high in fiber and don't contain any high fructose corn syrup
10. (a) Making sure we eat a wide variety of foods including, fruits, vegetables, grains, meats, poultry, fish, beans, etc. and drinking more water and less sugar-filled juices and (b) Using healthier cooking methods such as baking not frying, etc.

So far, the most challenging part of cooking healthier meals has been looking for less expensive, quality ingredients that don't contain the additives, preservatives and high fructose corn syrup that are shockingly common in so many foods these days. It is incredible to me to see these ingredients showing up in foods you would never think contained them. Therefore, it's important for me to look for foods that contain more naturally occurring sweeteners, ingredients and overall fewer ingredients on their listings.

Many of the recipes I've been using recently have come from healthy food blogs and websites I've found through friends' suggestions or my own online research. Here are some of my new favorites:

1. www.skinnytaste.com
2. www.eatingwell.com
3. www.cookinglight.com
4. www.healthygirlcooking.com

My apologies to The Pioneer Woman for not making my list, you rock, but I've gotta get healthier! I'll still keep you on my Bookmarks tab bar though for now :)

If any of you out there have good suggestions for healthy recipe sites, I'd love to hear from you! I'll have to post some of the recipes I've made so far as well as some pictures. Some have been great, a few not so much, but it's a learning process and I'm figuring out ways to adapt the recipes and remember what didn't work so I can make changes the next time I try the same recipe. It's been fun, and I'm always discovering ways to create shortcuts and cut down on prep/cooking time so I have more time to spend with my awesome husband and adorable little boy!

Until next week, love to all our family and friends!

Isaac's Crazy Hair & His New Obsession

Isaac and his tamed curls

Isaac after I brushed out his hair

Isaac's new obsession

I had to post some cute pictures of Isaac's crazy hair. Isaac was first born with straight, black hair, and not particularly a lot of it. And over the months, it started getting lighter, longer, and curlier. I just love it. Some people ask when I'm going to cut it. I don't have an answer for them right now. I just love the craziness of it and we literally get compliments everywhere we go, "Oh, look at those curls!" or "Wow, he's got great hair!" so I don't have any intentions of getting it cut anytime soon. Isaac also has a new obsession: "Home Alone." Just about every day now, he somehow is able to pick out the movie from among all our other DVDs, runs and brings it to me, and points to it like that's what he wants to watch and then he stands and waits in front of the TV for me to put it in and start it. I think it's hilarious. I think the main reason he likes the movie so much is because it's all about a kid. And he loves watching other kids. But I think I better go down to the public library and get some more educational shows for children rather than let him watch this movie all the time! Plus, I'm getting a little sick of watching a Christmas movie over and over when I'm so anxious for Spring and Summer!

Other events from this week have included Isaac getting his first molar. I felt bad once I finally realized during Isaac's bath at the end of the day on Tuesday that his first molar had popped through. It had been a long, rough day and my patience was wearing thin. Then I understood why the day had gone the way it had. I've since given him some Ibuprofen for the pain and he seems to be doing much better now. We'll just wait and see when the second one comes and I'll try to be on the lookout for it this time.

Yesterday was Manuel's mom's birthday and we went out to a buffet for lunch and then came back to our apartment to hang out for a while. We put on some salsa music and Isaac loved it. He got to dance with his abuelita, daddy, and mommy. It was a lot of fun. In the morning, I had made her a birthday cake using my new professional cake decorating set my mom gave me for Christmas. It was so much fun experimenting with all the different frosting tips and colors. The cake turned out alright for my first time, but I'm looking forward to improving my skills. We were all so full from the buffet that even after an hour, hour and a half, there was no room for cake & ice cream so we just sang Happy Birthday and Manuel's mom blew out her candles.

This week starts the first week in March which means only a couple more weeks until Manuel's on Spring Break. I'm so excited for it. I know he'll probably need to do some studying, but it will be fun to at least have a little more time each day to spend together as a family and hopefully we can plan a few fun activities for the week. One of my new goals is to make a new blog post entry once a week to give more frequent updates. So until next week, love to all our family and friends!

And we have...SUCCESS!

Isaac napping in his own bed! I love how he's all curled up with his little bum sticking out :)

Well, at a time it may have been shameful to say, but I've since come to terms with the fact that we have not been perfect parents, and we spoiled this little boy by letting him sleep in bed with us until he was 1 year old. This in no way means I judge anyone else who decides to have their children co-sleep with them. It's always been my philosophy that "Hey, if it works for you, great!" It all started when he was first born, really in the first week, #1: because we loved holding and cuddling him so much, #2: because he had some reflux and we were too nervous about him sleeping on his own and not breathing well. Well, one thing after another, and our "family bed" is what we ended up with! It didn't really bother us but we knew that eventually we would have to get Isaac to sleep on his own and we weren't looking forward to that day! We'll come back to this soon. Recently, one day I took Isaac in when he got sick with a cold just to make sure there were no other infections, and we rechecked his blood count (which was a little on the lower side at his 1-year checkup). It hadn't improved, in fact it went down another point, even though we had started giving him an iron supplement as instructed by the doctor, and now he is considered anemic. So, our wonderful pediatrician Dr. Ferreira sent us to Primary Children's Medical Center to get further blood work done which confirmed that it had gone down even more than just a few days earlier at the doctor's office. So, Dr. Ferreira called me up and spoke with me about the need to get Isaac more foods with a good source of iron and to continue the iron supplement as well. He told me we would have to do the blood work again in about a month up at Primary Children's to see if it had improved. He said we'd most likely be able to find out if it was just a problem with his diet or if he may have been born with a disorder that prevents his body from producing enough red blood cells. Well, up until that point, Isaac had been quite picky about food, not particularly the types of food he would eat, but food in general. He would act very interested in whatever we were eating, but would just taste everything but never really eat anything. So, I took the liberty of deciding that it was time to stop breastfeeding him. He was nursing constantly and that's what he always wanted. And to make it even more difficult, that was his method of falling asleep as well, which made it hard on me. I felt strongly that if I didn't stop breastfeeding him, he wouldn't gain the interest in food that he needed in order to bring his iron levels up. So, that week was interesting to say the least! Isaac did so well, and I was so proud of him, he started eating better immediately, lots of healthy solids, his whole grain cereal, drinking his juice with the iron supplement, drinking milk, etc. It was much harder on me than I thought it would be. For some reason, it didn't really cross my mind the pain I would be experiencing by stopping the nursing cold turkey. Well, to save anyone reading this from too much detail, I eventually resolved the issue and about two weeks later, all the pain was gone. So that was already one big change. Well, the same week, I decided it might be a good opportunity to take advantage of him not having to nurse to sleep to get him sleeping in his own bed. However, I thought maybe gradually we could start with him just sleeping on his mattress on the floor in our bedroom. That worked a few times and he did pretty well, but it was still just hard. I was hesitant to try putting him in his own crib, in his own bedroom, to sleep on his own the same week he already experienced a major change in his life by stopping the breastfeeding. Well, after some discussion and some research, we decided to just go for it. The first night was the most difficult of course, and since Manuel needed the sleep in order to do well in his classes, it was pretty much all on me. This is not to say that Manuel has in no part helped or assisted me in any of this. He has been very supportive (although a little hesitant at first, like me) about doing this. Back to the first night, I just sat on the floor in Isaac's room next to his crib and played a lullaby CD my mom got him for Christmas (very cute by the way, it's a personalized CD of lullabies that include his name in each of the songs). He cried and cried for I would say, an hour, hour and a half or so. It was hard and I just sat there, keeping my head down, making sure not to make eye contact with him. During naps the next day, I slowly moved my way closer to the door when I put him down and he started to not even cry really when I'd put him down. I knew it wouldn't go this way once I'd finally leave the room entirely but it wasn't as bad as I thought. A couple nights later, I finally left the room altogether and he cried for about a half hour and fell asleep. And he has since been sleeping through the night by himself. It may sound silly to some, but this is something I'm extremely proud of because it seemed like such a daunting task, and sometimes it's not easy (naptimes can still be a little harder). But after the first night he slept the whole night, I woke up thinking, "Wow, I can't believe it! It worked!" I think he's sleeping much better now and we are too. On several occasions, we debated with ourselves about getting him to sleep on his own at this age since it can be even more difficult with the onset of separation anxiety in many children this age. However, we decided that if we waited any longer, it might be easier later but it might not be and we weren't sure we wanted to take that chance. And back to the iron issue. Last week, Isaac started acting quite constipated and we figured it was probably from the high iron intake he was now experiencing. So we tried relieving it with pear juice, prune juice, etc. however nothing seemed to help and it only seemed to be getting worse. Tuesday of this week, I finally took him in to the doctor. Dr. Ferreira was out that day, but we saw another doctor who confirmed he was constipated and very much so (3/4 full). Poor guy! No wonder he had been so cranky the last few days! He was probably having a lot of tummy aches and he was so lethargic, sleeping much of the day. The doctor put him on Miralax and said he would have to be on it the duration he will be on the Ferrett's (the iron supplement). So, it may be a few more months, unfortunately. Hopefully we can resolve the issue with the iron as soon as possible so he won't have to be on the Miralax for too long. The doctor said that if children are on it for too long, their bodies can become dependent and it can make future potty training a nightmare. Since the Miralax has started working, Isaac is pretty much back to his normal fun, happy, self. And he's eating so much! His latest favorite is grapes, I swear he can't get enough of 'em!

I better wrap things up here. Valentine's Day was great, stressful, but great. Isaac was ornery (at the time we didn't know exactly why), and we had plans to go out that night to Tucanos, just the two of us and leave Isaac with Manuel's parents. For a while, we thought maybe we shouldn't go since Isaac was so uncomfortable and cranky. But then we decided we'd try to go and call on our way to see how Isaac was doing and we could always turn back if necessary. Turns out, Isaac did great. We were also worried because it was the first time we were leaving him to go out on our own in almost a year! Way too long, I know! Isaac didn't fuss the whole time, he ate well, and it was so nice of Manuel's parents to come up to our place and watch him. We had a great time going out, getting to hold hands again since that doesn't happen too often when we're all out and one of us has to hold Isaac. The food was amazing of course, and we had so much fun talking about the beginning of our relationship, trying to remember the details of how it all started, and our first Valentine's Day together. It was such a special date and we had so much fun, just the two of us. It made me think how much I'd like to start making a history of when we were dating and our relationship from the very beginning. Can't wait to get started on it!

Well, it's just about that time that I need to start getting Isaac ready for bed. Hope to start posting more often as I'm realizing I also need to take more pictures! As always, love to our friends and family!

Lucky I'm in Love...

Valentine's Day is almost here and I just wanted to express how fortunate and lucky I feel to have the two best boys in the world in my life! I am lucky that I can say my husband is my best friend and I'm so in love with him! It's amazing how much we loved each other on our wedding day and how that love has just blossomed and grown so much every day since. We have been married for 3 1/2 years now and although we have a lot more to experience together in this life, we have had a pretty great time so far. Manuel is truly such a compassionate, caring person who puts family first and treats me so well. I've got to say I think Manuel is the most honorable, trustworthy, loving, fun, kind, considerate, and affectionate man I know and I remind myself each day how lucky I am to have him in my life and not to take him for granted. I feel like in the last 4 years, Manuel and I have come a long way to where we are now. For any of you who may know our story, there were definitely times in our relationship while dating that I never imagined I would marry him (and not because he wasn't worthy of it). He was literally a choice I had to make and there is never a single day that I regret making that choice. Our marriage has brought us so many blessings and good times. Now that Isaac is a part of our family, I have one more reason to feel so lucky. Isaac is a wonderful blessing to us and we love him so much! He brings so much joy, happiness, smiles, and laughter into our home and we couldn't imagine our lives without him. With this Valentine's Day in approach, I just wanted to express my love to my boys! To all our family and friends, Happy Valentine's Day!

New Year, New Goals

Happy New Year! I know, it's a little late but better late than never. I'm so excited for a new year because it means a fresh new start, new goals, and new adventures. I am really looking forward to this year and creating new memories with my little family. I am so grateful to have such an amazing husband who treats me like a queen, is such a great dad, and works so hard for our family and our future. I am also so grateful for such a sweet little boy, our little Isaac, who truly makes me smile and laugh every day. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world to have these boys in my life. I can't wait to see what life brings us this year as Isaac continues to grow and learn new things. As for my New Year's goals, mine are pretty typical: lose weight, eat better, exercise more, read my scriptures every day, etc. But really, what's most important to me is to be a better wife and mom. I feel so lucky to have such a great family, I just want to make sure I'm doing my part at being the best wife to my husband and mommy to my little guy. I hope to be more patient, kind, understanding and tolerant with my family. I am excited for this cold weather to be over too! It's typical that immediately after January 1, I am already looking forward to summer's warm weather, especially this year because I can't wait to take Isaac outside to run around and play every day. I think he will have so much fun. I hope to enroll him in some type of fun baby swimming class or other activity that will be fun for both of us. I am excited that this new year also means Manuel will be entering his second year of pharmacy school which means 1 year closer to being done! He has done so well thus far and I am really proud of him. Well, that about sums it up for now. I can't wait to post for Valentine's Day! I'll also try to get more pictures up next time. In the meantime, love to all our family and friends and a Happy New Year!

1 year later and a birth story...

Happy 1st Birthday to our little Isaac!!! I can't believe that he's my little 1-year-old now! This past year has flown by in many ways and today marks one year ago that our little angel boy came into our lives. Isaac has brought so much joy and happiness to our family and we love him so much. I have loved being a mom more than I ever imagined and although not every day is easy, every day is worth it for this little guy. I never really shared Isaac's birth story after he was first born and therefore will now make a record of it:

December 18, 2009 was my last day of work at the dental office as well as Manuel's last day of finals for his undergrad education at BYU. Isaac was due the 27th and I had figured to give myself a week after my last day of work to just sit at home and relax until Isaac came. Everyone kept telling me he wouldn't come until January because first babies almost always come later than their due date. I was anxious for Isaac to come before Christmas because I wanted to be at home for the holidays with my little Christmas present. Toward the end of my pregnancy, I was getting concerned that Isaac wasn't moving around quite as much some days and since I'd heard some pretty scary stories, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't ignoring anything important. I had gone into the hospital a couple of times for some non-stress tests and they had verified that Isaac wasn't moving as much and had a bit of a lower heart rate but it wasn't anything too concerning unless when I was to get checked again with my doctor, it remained the same. Well, sure enough, Isaac's heart rate was back to normal and he was correctly positioned. Sometimes I had a little bit of a difficult time determining his position since there wasn't much room left and I thought he was a little sideways (which ended up not being the case). Well, as I said, I finished my last day of work and went home, excited to give all my focus to the growing baby inside me and the upcoming holidays. The following day (Saturday), I felt that I needed to go into the hospital to get checked again since I hadn't felt much movement. Maybe I was also a little paranoid, but I didn't want to take any chances. They conducted another non-stress test and just about everything looked alright, except I had developed a bit of high blood pressure. The previous Tuesday was the last appointment I had had with my doctor and everything was fine then so I had just developed it since that appointment. My doctor had gone out of town, actually to take his wife to New York for her birthday and so the on-call doctor came to check on me while I was at the hospital. He ordered me to do a 24-hour urine sample analysis and instructed me to take the sample in the next day to the lab at the hospital. So, I did as I was told and started it immediately after we got home that day. It was nice to have Manuel with me at this point since he had finished school and wasn't yet working. Sunday morning, I began feeling some contractions which had simply started coincidentally and were coming about every 10 minutes. We decided not to go to church that morning in case the contractions got closer together or more intense. I took a nap that morning and after the nap, I stopped feeling the contractions coming. I was starting to feel a little restless because I had been laying in bed for a long while so I asked Manuel if we could go walk around somewhere. It was pretty cold outside and the only place I could think of that was indoors to walk around on a Sunday was the Provo mall. After dropping off my urine sample, we headed to the mall to see if I could get a little relief from the aching muscles I had from being in bed for so long. Almost immediately after walking through the doors into the mall, I felt a little leak and thought maybe it was my water. We walked the distance of the mall until we reached Dillard's and I went into the restroom to check if that was really what I felt or maybe I had just had an embarrassing accident! I confirmed it and came out to tell Manuel I thought that my water was leaking. So we decided to leave and just before walking out of the mall, I felt more of a leak. We walked to the car and stopped at home to make sure the hospital wanted me to come in. They told me on the phone that even if it was just a leak, they wanted to admit me. So we got our hospital bag and drove to the hospital. Once we got there, they had to make sure that it was really my water that leaked and sure enough it was. From then on, it was relieving to know that I was there to have the baby and we wouldn't be leaving there without our little Isaac. Oh, and when they checked to see if it was my water, they actually broke it completely and now I will never wonder the difference between a leak and a gush! It was a strange feeling to say the least. Because just the day before they had gotten concerned with my high blood pressure, they got me hooked up to the monitor right away. It was still high, at times pushing over 160. I didn't come to understand the dangers of that (for both mother and baby) until after I actually gave birth. Because it was high, they put me on magnesium sulfate to bring it down. It seemed to help but I wasn't really having contractions even though my water had broke, so they decided it was best to induce me further with pitocin. After that, I felt a lot of pain with the contractions. I was dilated at a 2 when I had arrived to the hospital and I thought 'Man, if this is the pain I'm feeling dilated at a 2, what is it going to be like when I get to a 10?!' Throughout my pregnancy, I had planned to have a natural birth without any drugs but I was always keeping an open mind in case things didn't go as planned. I tried to get through the pain of the contractions with the help of Lamaze breathing techniques I had learned in the class Manuel and I had attended. But I wasn't getting much relief, especially since I had been confined to my bed because I had to be continually monitored for the high blood pressure and the pitocin I was on. I wasn't able to try any different positions to manage the pain which became frustrating. After about 6 hours of this, the nurse had come in to check me a couple of times to see where I was at and after 6 hours, I had only dilated 1 centimeter. I felt frustrated by this. I felt that nothing was happening and if I continued to suffer like that and not dilate after several hours, I may end up needing a C-section if labor went too long. After trying a lesser drug to help the pain and not feeling any relief, I decided to go for the epidural. I was a little scared to get it because I was more afraid of the needle than the actual pain I could feel from labor. They brought in the anesthesiologist who inserted the needle just as I was having a contraction. That was painful! It was so much pressure all at once. But within literally a minute or two, I felt immediate relief from the pain I had been experiencing. I was finally able to rest for a little while. They came back in a couple more times to check me, and just a few hours after the epidural was placed, I had fully dilated and was ready to start pushing. I think more than anything, the epidural really helped my body to relax which in turn helped me to dilate. I felt great. I was very alert and I was really enjoying the experience. The doctor came in after I had already started pushing with the help of my husband and the attending nurse to further along the process. Even though I really didn't feel much pain while pushing, the energy it took out of me left me completely exhausted. I pushed for just under half an hour and out came Isaac! At the sound of his cry, I became quite emotional. It was such a beautiful experience and to hear my baby's first cry, there was no sweeter sound in the world! Isaac was born just after midnight, 12:17 am on Monday, December 21, 2009. I was able to begin nursing him about 5 minutes after he was born and it was a wonderful bonding moment, and Isaac took right to it. I feel very fortunate that he grasped on so quickly because I know it doesn't come easy for every mother and child. I remember shaking a lot after delivery, especially my legs, just from sheer exhaustion, and it was a little hard to get control of at first. They finally wheeled me down to my hospital room I would be staying in while Manuel accompanied Isaac to the nursery for his first bath and check-ups. I remember I was able to get up and walk around almost immediately and I felt great, awake and alert. And I really only stayed one night because we left the hospital just before noon on Tuesday. I had gotten my wish! We were able to take Isaac home and be home for Christmas. I have to say, although I had originally wanted a natural birth without drugs, I believe my decision to get an epidural was a good one, especially in my situation and I was able to have a wonderful labor and birth experience. I understand our bodies are made for handling the pain associated with this life experience, but I also feel that getting an epidural was a completely safe and healthy decision. Isaac didn't show any negative effects and I was alert and felt great after giving birth. I feel that because of the choice I made to get it, I was able to more fully enjoy my experience of bringing a child into this world and I was still able to have a natural birth. I'm grateful for the hospital staff and for the doctor that delivered Isaac because they did a great job, making me feel as comfortable as possible and also knowing how important it was to watch my health so closely during that time. When I think back on those special moments, I have many positive memories and I'm so glad I had my wonderful husband Manuel at my side supporting me the whole way through. He was awesome! I'm so glad that we have Isaac and that he is a healthy and happy boy. It will be wonderful to watch our family as it continues to grow and to experience and share many more wonderful memories!

A Córdova Christmas

All ready for Christmas...well almost! There are still a few things we need to get gift-wise and I'm going to get the Christmas cards mailed out tomorrow. But the house is all decorated and as soon as Manuel's done with finals this week, I'm going to start baking like crazy as well as finish the last details of Isaac's birthday party. Here are some pictures that we took of the decorations we put up in our humble little home. Can't wait to post pictures from Isaac's party. Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season!